Wayne and Holmes counties law enforcement, safety groups kick off Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over

Law enforcement kicks off Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign

By CHRISTINE L. PRATTStaff Writer Published: August 16, 2014 4:00 AM

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MILLERSBURG -- Through education and enforcement, local safety advocation and law enforcement have joined together to urge motorists to drive sober, or face the consequences.

Over the past weekend, law enforcement and representatives of the Wayne and Holmes County Safe Communities kicked off Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.

The national campaign runs Aug. 15-Sept. 1.

Not only did they have a special presence on the final day of the Holmes County Fair and at Creston Ox Roast, officers from Wayne County conducted a Friday sobriety checkpoint in Doylestown.

On Saturday, the officers from Holmes County Sheriff's Office, the Ohio State Highway Patrol and Millersburg Police Department manned a booth at the fair, running fair-goers through a series of everyday tasks while wearing fatal vision goggles, which have special lens technology that allows the wearer to experience a realistic simulation of impairment.

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Their activities mirrored those of the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, OSP and Creston Police Department at the prior day's ox roast in Creston.

"The point is to just do the best we can to work together to reduce the number of drunk drivers and recidivism," said Suzanne Snyder, Safe Communities program director.

The kickoff events, she said, "send the message, 'Hey, we're watching for you.' We want to stop you before you make that poor choice. It's not worth the risk."

A similar awareness effort is planned for Aug. 23 at the Wayne County Speedway.

And, on Friday night, officers from the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, OSP and Doylestown Police Department made contact with the occupants of 593 vehicles that passed through a sobriety checkpoint at the intersection of state Route 585 and Gates Street.

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Of those, seven vehicles were diverted and three arrests were executed -- one on an outstanding warrant and two for driving under suspension, said Lt. Stephanie Norman, commander of the OSP's Wooster Post.

"The main purpose is to educate," said Norman of the checkpoint. "We want to prevent people from being out on the road while impaired."

Considering last year's checkpoint, held May 17 at the same location, yielded five impaired driving arrests and this year's effort produced none, she is hopeful they're moving in the direction of achieving their goal.

The patrol, she said, will shift into enforcement mode on Friday.

They will have increased officer presence on the road, where they will focus on high-crash areas and OVI enforcement.

The Wayne County Sheriff's Office will use an overtime grant from the Ohio Governor's Highway Safety Office to fund extra patrols through the campaign period.

"As summer travel season draws to a close, we're aware impaired driving happens year round," said Capt. Doug Hunter. "As always we take a zero tolerance approach to impaired driving in any form."

Also taking part in the two-week campaign will be the Holmes County Sheriff's Office, deputies from which will be out in force cracking down on drunk drivers with aggressive traffic enforcement.

That said, Sheriff Timothy W. Zimmerly is giving fair warning to drivers traveling in Holmes County. "You'll see us making lots of stops during this highly visible enforcement period, and if we suspect anyone is driving while intoxicated, deputies will show zero tolerance for drunk driving," he said.

Sheriff's deputies, he said, are prepared to stop and arrest any drink drivers, in an effort to keep the county's roads safe.

Not only can drunken driving lead to serious injury and fatal crashes, it can have significant financial impacts. Those convicted of drunken driving face jail time, license suspension, higher insurance rates and dozens of other, unanticipated, expenses including attorney's fees, court costs, car towing and repairs and loss of wages due to time off work.

Reporter Christine Pratt can be reached at 330-674-5676 or cpratt@the-daily-record.com. She's @drnewsgirl on Twitter.

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frogman Aug 17, 2014 7:21 PM

No amount of checkpoints can guarantee your safety. I agree with amoebia, I want my freedom.

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anonymous_1256 Aug 16, 2014 1:03 PM

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Get real! Sobriety checks save lives! Almost daily if you are out driving around people sometimes cross the line into your lane and cause death and bad accidents because of drinking or drug use or from texting too! Any way to get drivers attention is a good thing. Our police, state highway patrol and local sheriffs deserve praise for trying to keep all safe out on road.

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anonymous Aug 16, 2014 8:06 AM

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So the constitutional rights of almost 600 citizens were violated, harassed, and forced to provide papers, as Hitler did, in the name of saftey, in the name of getting drunk drivers off the road, and absolutely none out of the almost 600 citizens harassed by police state were actually arrested for DUI. The rights of citizens are being trampled on every day by police, citizens are harassed, forced to provide identification, all against our constitutional rights to travel unmolested by the police.

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